“We may need simple and heroic legends for that peculiar genre of literature known as the textbook. But historians must also labor to rescue human beings from their legends in science if only so that we may understand the process of scientific thought aright.” IfsNeedsHumansMayLiteratureProcessHuman BeingsSimpleKnownLaborGenreHistorianPeculiarLegendsHeroicRescueTextbooks Book:The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History Source: The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History
“The Dutch at close proximity looked much like Americans, apart from their peculiar uniforms, and so it was their uniforms I fired at, half convinced that I was killing, not human beings, but enemy costumes, which had borne their contents here from a distant land; and if some living man suffered for his enslavement to the uniform, or was penetrated by the bullets aimed at it well, that was unavoidable, and the fault couldn't be placed at my feet. The private charade was not equivalent to Courage, but it enabled a Callousness that served a similar purpose.” IfsMenHumansWellsPurposeHuman BeingsHalfEnemyFeetLandFaultsKillingConvincedPeculiarUniformsBulletsCostumesDutchEnslavementProximityCallousnessCharades Author:Robert Charles Wilson
“For some strange reason, we believe that anyone who lived before we were born was in some peculiar way a different kind of human being from any we have come in contact with in our own lifetime. This concept must be changed; we must realize in our bones that almost everything in time and history has changed except the human being.” WayBelieveHumansKindDifferentReasonRealizingBornHuman BeingsChangedStrangeConceptsLifetimeBonesContactPeculiarDifferent Kinds Book:Respect for Acting Source: Respect for Acting